Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

D-Day snub to Queen: Palace fury as Sarkozy refuses to invite royals to 65th Anniversary.The Queen and other senior royals have been 'snubbed' by the French over D-Day commemorationsBuckingham Palace voiced anger last night after the French snubbed the Queen over next week's D-Day commemorations.Aides said senior royals had repeatedly made clear their eagerness to support the historic 65th anniversary events in Normandy.But last night French officials crushed any remaining hopes, admitting they had never had any plans to invite members of the British Royal Family.They said President Nicolas Sarkozy was focused on the 'main event' of hosting U.S. President Barack Obama.There was also anger at the British Government for failing to secure a Royal invitation from their French counterparts. Protocol means they cannot simply invite themselves.The failure to invite the Queen - who is head of state of both Britain and Canada - will be seen as an insult to the memory of the 17,556 British and 5,316 Canadian troops who died to free France and are buried there.The figure does not include many airmen and sailors whose bodies were never found.Ministers had refused even to treat the 65th anniversary as a major event until shamed into a U-turn by a Daily Mail campaign earlier this year.Senior Buckingham Palace sources made no attempt to hide their frustration. One said: 'We have made it very clear from the start we were keen to support the Normandy veterans in any way we could. No-one is keener to honour their sacrifice.'There have been several conversations with the Foreign Office but no invitation has been forthcoming.'We have gone through all the normal channels and had conversation after conversation, but received no feedback. It is very frustrating.'President Sarkozy's officials were dismissive of the whole issue.

Disgraceful!

Something new for me, scribble drawing, in ink, inspired by Aliaena, a brilliant, exciting artist who has just begun blogging. Go see for yourself, because I love her work, but you have to make up your own mind. I did it this way today because I have to stop fiddling. I found it totally liberating, firstly, to make marks, lots of them, with little thought, and, second, to be unable to erase. Beginners luck, maybe, but it isn't a bad likeness, either!